Sunset had been living at the palace for three months now. She had grown accustom to the comings and goings of ponies of all types in the castle, to the ebb and flow of her mother's work, to sights and the smells of the day-to-day. She loved her mother and she loved her sister.
Sunset was sitting at a table on one of the many verandas, enjoying the early morning sun before breakfast and morning classes.
*thump*
Sunset had heard the scraping of scales that signaled Twilight's arrival, however it was unlike her sister to bump into things. "Sparkling Star? Is that you? Everything okay?", she called out through the veranda door.
"Yeah, Sunny Bunny.", Twilight answered with a huff and a small hiss.
Sunset noticed that something was off about her sister's tone. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but she sounded, in a word...agitated.
*thump**bump**thunk**rattle-rattle-rattle-crash*
"Gah! C'mon! Where's that stupid door handle?", Twilight grumbled.
Sunset walked over to the veranda door and swung it open. "Are you sure you're--"
Twilight turning to face her sister cut off Sunset's words in her throat.
Sunset could only stare in dumbfounded shock at Twilight. Her eyes looked milky and the odd way the naga rocked screamed to her that her sister was sick...and blind. She bolted past her sister to find their mother.
Twilight turned in place several times, trying to find her sister. "Sunny Bunny? Sunny Bunny? Say something. I can't see much when I'm getting close to shedding." She snapped her head towards movement. "Sunny Bunny?"
"I'm sorry, but no, Lady Twilight.", a guard replied. "Lady Sunset has run to find help. Here let me guide you onto the veranda."
"Sunny Bunny went to find help? Aw poo! I had read about how to split my skin so mommy wouldn't have to help me out with this shedding."
"Maybe next year.", the guard said as he guided Twilight onto a sunny spot on the veranda.
Twilight decided to stretch out in the warm sunlight. It would help her skin to dry out so shedding it would be easier. She let out a yawn and stretched out.
"Mom! Mom! Mom!", Sunset frantically shouted as she ran down the hallways, sliding around bends and drifting around corners. There was something wrong with Twilight and there was nothing that could stop her in her quest to find their mother, so she could help her sister.
Sunset cast teleportation as she encountered groups of ponies that were too tightly packed for for her to weave through, winking out with a pop and a flash, then reappearing several strides past them. She did diving slides under furniture that the castle staff was carrying to other rooms and did leaping vaults over guard rails, bypassing early morning tourists, squads of patrolling guards and groups of palace staff clocking in for the morning shift or filtering out after getting off from working a night shift.
Sunset burst through the door in Celestia's office. "Mom!"
Raven Inkwell, who was currently having a soft conversation with the princess nearly leapt out of her skin when Sunset burst through the door. She held a hoof to her chest and slowed her breathing, forcing her pounding heart to slow down.
Celestia gently placed a draconic paw on her Majordomo's wither.
Raven gave the princess a reassuring nod.
"Sunset Shimmer, what is the meaning of this?", Celestia said sternly. "Bursting into my office and scaring Majordomo Inkwell nearly half to death?"
"It's Twilight, mom! I think she's sick! I think she needs your help!"
Celestia leaned forward, a concerned look on her face. "What's wrong with Twilight?"
"Her eyes, they're all milky! I don't think she can see! She was bumping into stuff and her balance is all messed up! It's like she doesn't know where anything is!"
Raven and Celestia each shared a knowing look. Celestia double checked the date on the calendar, just to be sure.
"My Brilliant Sunny Bunny, what you did was commendable. You believed your sister was in peril and came to find me. I assure you that your sister is quite well."
"So what's up with her eyes? Why are they cloudy and why is she bumping into everything?"
Celestia transformed into her alicorn form, donned her vestments and trotted out of the office. "Come along, my Brilliant Sunny Bunny. This is a perfect teaching moment.
Twilight had fallen asleep in the morning sun and was softly buzzing. There was a gentle rocking of somepony shaking her body and she coiled tightly on herself. The shaking started again. She mumbled something incoherent as she tucked her head under her coils.
"Yipe!" Twilight sprung upright at the sudden electrical shock that struck her tail. "Who?! What?! Where?! When?! Why?! How?!" She looked around, but the clouding of the skin over her eyes made it hard to see anything.
"My little Shimmering Star, you should have told your sister that your shedding had started.", Celestia said.
Twilight calmed down at the sound of her mother's voice. "I thought I did, mommy. I'm sorry."
Celestia sat down next to Twilight. "Is it possible that you thought you had told her, but instead were talking to thin air as she had run to come and find me because she thought you were sick?"
"Did you think I was sick, Sunny Bunny?"
Sunset scuffed her hoof on the ground. "Uh...yeah I did. I saw your eyes were cloudy and thought you have been stricken blind from what even made you sick."
"Aw! That's so sweet!" Twilight moved to try and hug her sister. "Wait...where are? No, that's not you."
"Here, let me." Sunset moved in close and wrapped her forelegs around her sister's serpentine form for a hug. Twilight partially coiled her body around her sister's neck, returning the hug.
Celestia cooed at her daughters hugging and wrapped her forelegs around them both in a big motherly squeeze. "Alright, my Little Sparkling Star. Are you ready to shed that old skin?", She asked parting from the hug.
"Uh-huh. But I wanna try to shed it myself. I've been reading on how big snakes shed their skin and seeing that I'm snake-like in shape, I thought I'd give it a try."
Celestia took a seat on a nearby bench and patted her draconic paw beside her. "Come sit next to me and watch your sister shed her skin." She got comfortable and then said, "Alright my little Shimmering Star, you may proceed when ready. But remember, there's nothing wrong with asking for help if you feel you need it."
Twilight hummed a little merry tune as she coiled up her body. With her tongue she prodded around until she found the metal leg of a table. Scraping her snout against the metal leg several times, she then started crawling across the ground very slowly. The dry skin split down the middle of her snout, spreading to her whole head. With a couple of deliberate shakes, she was able to free her head.
"Whoa! Nnnnneeeeeeeaaaaaaaaatttttt!" Sunset leaned forward as she watched her sister crawl out of her skin, leaving the empty remnant inside-out.
Twilight flicked her tail a few times to pull it free of her old skin. "Ah! That feels nice.", she said with a sigh.
Sunset trotted over to get a closer look at the empty skin her sister had shed. She looked up at Twilight's face. "Weird! You've got these square holes on your top lip, Shimmering Star."
Twilight looked at Sunset with an odd expression on her face. "Everything looks weird now. Sunny Bunny, you've got this weird energy coming out of you, looping around and looping back in. It's mostly concentrated around your horn and hooves."
"It seems that your magic sensory pits have finally matured, my little Shimmering Star.", Celestia said, her voice full of pride. She brushed a tear away with a claw. "My little naga is no longer a neonate and is growing up." She picked up the shed skin. "Now let's dispose of this." Taking in a breath, she sent out a puff of reddish flame that consumed the shed skin.
Sunset gave a questioning tip of her head.
"It's to prevent anypony from using her shed skin for nefarious purposes.", Celestia said with a smile. For a moment the corners of her mouth turned down. "Though I haven't been able to confirm whether or not the skin of her first few sheddings have been destroyed. She was such a tiny thing when I found her."
"How did you find Twilight, mom?"
Celestia sat down on a bench and took a breath. "It was nearly nine summers ago..."
Celestia was sitting down enjoying her late morning snack of tea and crumpets. After popping a crumpet into her mouth, she took a long sip of tea to wash it down. Then suddenly...
*boom*
A magical explosion rocked a portion of the middle district of the city, specifically in a specially reinforced district where magical and alchemical ingredients were sold. Celestia spat out the mouthful and tea and crumpet, and ran to the window, throwing it open. A lingering trail of vapor and smoke going across the sky heading west gave a clear indication where the disturbance originated.
Celestia noticed the guards standing on the palace walls were looking up and to the west. She leaned further out and craned her neck around. A strange flickering green object was nearing the western horizon. In just the few seconds since it first rocketed out, making such a noise that it brought her to her window, it must have been traveling at an insane speed.
Celestia ensured that her alicorn disguise was secured and summoned a contingent of guards. She needed to investigate the origin of this strange happening. Once a dozen guards had gathered, she stepped into their midst, summoned her magic and teleported.
Celestia and her guards materialized a dozen strides away from a two-story building that had a smoking hole in its second story west facing wall.
A tiny lavender snake quickly slithered up to Celestia, coiled itself around her leg and climbed up her until it reached her head, it then hid underneath the princess' mane.
Celestia quickly turned her attention back to the building as a clatter arose from it.
"I told Dan to leave it alone. Nagas are very powerful, even when they're hatchlings. But nooooo! He wouldn't listen and got himself blasted to Celestia knows where.", a harsh feminine voice. "Davy?! Have you found that little snake-pony yet?"
"No, Gretchen, I haven't. I'm still looking. It blew it's terrarium to bits with that blast.", a masculine voice replied.
"Maybe it got outside!", the feminine voice shouted. "Go outside and look!"
"Why don't you?!", the masculine voice shouted back. "I've gotta clean this mess up and make it look like a magical experiment went wrong before the royal guard gets here."
Celestia felt the naga tremble underneath her mane. She reached up and gently patted it. "Worry not, little one, you're safe here with me. I'll not let those bad ponies get you." She looked to a guard wearing lieutenant markings. "What is your name lieutenant?"
"Knightly Armor, my princesses."
"Very well, lieutenant Armor. Run to the nearest guard station, and summon the witch hunters and the investigators. We've got a case of dark magic users kidnapping sapient beings. Tell the watch captain there that I have ordered a broad net protocol."
Knightly Armor gave a sharp nod and ran as fast as his legs could carry them. He, just like every guard knew that a broad net protocol meant that every available guard was to scour the city, leaving no stone unturned, no crack or crevice uninspected, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and to canvas every street, boulevard, lane, parkway, walkway, driveway and alleyway with dozens of hourly patrols. It had been over a century since the last broad net protocol, and that was to bring down a powerful criminal cartel that had buried itself deep into Canterlot's underbelly.
The one that Celestia determined to be Gretchen, a unicorn mare with an odd horn deformation that gave it the appearance on an old gnarled root, a clear sign that she had been dabbling with dark magic, stepped out of a side door on the ground floor. Her eyes went wide upon seeing the princess with a contingent of guards and darted back inside. "Crap! Crap! Crap-crap-crap! Crappity-crap-crap-crap!", Gretchen shouted from inside. "The princess is already here! With a squad of guards!"
"What?!", shouted the masculine voice. "Not good! Not Good! Not Good!'
"Well don't just stand there dummy, do something to stall them!"
"Me!? Why not you?", Bob shouted. "I'm still upstairs!"
Celestia didn't need to make a gesture. The guards were already moving into place surrounding the building. Pegasi took flight, posting up outside the windows on the second floor and around the hole that had been blasted in the wall. Earth ponies began forming up at the doors, windows on the first floor as well as the cellar hatch. Unicorns began making magical barriers around the building as others started casting detection and scanning spells.
A guard sergeant stuck a hoof to his lips and gestured to a nearby building. A small team of guards moved to the building "Princess, we detect no hexigramatic traps, no obfuscating wards, no shields or active spells. There is a tunnel that is leading to that building." He gestured to the building where the small squad of guards were currently posted.
Celestia gave the sergeant a quick nod.
"Come out in the name of the princess!", the sergeant shouted. "Do not try to flee or fight back! We have already sent for the witch hunters and the investigators! You have ten seconds to comply!"
There was some clomping and thumping from inside the building for several seconds, then silence.
The sergeant gave a quick nod to the small squad of ponies who had been redirected to the nearby building. They smashed in the door and made rapid ingress into the building. "Breach!", he shouted.
Celestia stood beside her personal guard captain, a pegasus stallion named Iron Shoes, whose mane and tail had gone gray.
Unicorn guards fired small orbs through the windows that exploded into brilliant flashes of lights. Pegasi guards crashed through the upstairs windows and four dove in through the hole in the wall. Earth pony guards quickly kicked the doors to splinters or kicked through sections of walls to make passages inside. A pair of unicorns ripped the hatch off of the cellar, hurling it aside and a team of six earth ponies quickly rushed in, followed by four unicorns.
In seconds the guards were crashing through the different levels of the building. From upstairs there was the sounds of a struggle. From the neighboring building there was the sounds of a heated struggle followed by the crackle of magic. Gretchen came running out of the building, eyes wild with panic. Iron shoes pounced onto her in an attempt to capture her. Age had slowed his reactions slightly and she wriggled out of his tackle, only to be caught in a cloud of golden magic and forced down to her belly. She struggled only for a moment before Celestia's gaze cowed her into submission.
"Upper floor cleared!", a guard shouted. "We've got a prisoner!"
"Ground floor cleared!"
A unicorn came up from the cellar with a shocked expression on his face. "P-princess...it's...there's...I have no words."
Iron Shoes, clearly rattled by his failure to capture the fleeing mare, strode over to Gretchen and pulled out a set of hobbles and clapped them to her fetlocks. He then pulled out a restraining collar and secured it to her neck.
A pair of guards came out of the nearby building. "We're currently running a sweep of the building, but it looks like it's been abandoned for some time."
The guards drug a rare bat-winged pegasus, out of the first building a few moments later.
Celestia walked over to the open cellar. The sickly-sweet stink of decay, along with the foul vapors of dark and forbidden magic wafted out of the opening. The tiny naga that was hiding under her mane trembled. "Be calm, little one. You shall not go back into that building." She walked away from the building.
The guards quickly set about cordoning off the area, ensuring no civilians wanting lookie-loos or souvenirs could wander in. Gretchen and her accomplice were muzzled, just in case they knew any spells with spoken-only components, the former had a padded cap secured to her horn and the latter had clamps applied to his wings.
The clopping of hooves and rumbling of wheels indicated that lieutenant Knightly Armor had returned with a full company of guards. Gretchen and her accomplice were quickly shoved into a covered iron wagon with special restraining runes carved into the sides and heavy flat iron bars crisscrossing the windows. Ten witch hunters, with their odd black stovepipe hats, heavy black capes, black form-fitting padded armor, black beak-like masks with thick glass lenses, amulets and charms hanging around their necks, and belts of tools of differing sizes and lengths attached to their bodies, took up stations around the buildings. Eight investigators quickly took statements from the guards, they then entered into the buildings as the witch hunters descended into the cellar. A pair of investigators entered into the iron wagon, accompanied by two pairs of guards to perform a preliminary interrogation of the two prisoners. Their names were recorded as Gretchen and Bob, most likely aliases, but a more thorough interrogation using truth compulsion spells later would reveal any and all facts.
"Worry no more, little one. You are safe with me.", Celestia said to the tiny naga huddling under her mane. It crawled out from under mane and slithered up onto her snout. The tiniest purple eyes looked out from a tiny face covered in iridescent lavender scales and a miniscule horn jutting from it head stared into her rose-colored eyes. "Do you have a name, little one?"
The little naga gave the princess a confused look.
"No name? Pity. Such a pity that even in times like these, there are those who would treat such a magnificent being as yourself so cruelly and deny you a name." Celestia mused for a moment. "Your scales are the color of the sky at twilight and they sparkle so beautifully. Hmm. I shall name you Twilight Sparkle."
A smile spread across the tiny naga's mouth. It then slithered up to the top of the princess' head, curled up as it nestled into her mane, gave a tiny yawn and fell asleep. Celestia gave a coo as maternal instincts, the likes of which she had not felt in centuries, welled up inside of her.
"And so I had on my talons this little naga, only a few months hatched." Celestia held her draconic paws in a cupped manner as if she was cradling something. "I spent months trying to find her parents, but as nagas are very rare, so I could not find them. She was so tiny, so vulnerable. She hadn't even grown her mane yet and it would be another three summers before she'd grow her hood. So I had adoption papers written up and she became my daughter." She couldn't bring herself to tell Twilight that the witch hunters had found the remains of a naga family, most likely Twilight's hatching family, strung up around that basement. Their parts were probably being used in all sorts of foul rituals. She wouldn't have found Twilight, much less made her her daughter if it weren't for nagas propensity for wild and powerful magical surges, especially when stressed or scared.
"So what happened to those two ponies, Gretchen and Bob?", Sunset asked.
Celestia walked to the edge of the veranda and looked out to a black mountain in the distance. That was the place where those who committed the worst crimes were held until the end of all things. She then looked up to the skies, somewhere up there was the frozen corpse of Gretchen and Bob's co-conspirator orbiting the world, their body beached a palid white from the unshielded wrath of the heavens. She wouldn't tell her daughters that their biological families were the victims of nightmare cultists, not yet. Maybe...maybe when they were older and had proper training in the defense against foul magics. "They have been brought to justice and have been imprisoned for a very long time, but that's a story for another time. Let's go get breakfast. How does funny face pancakes sound?"
"Yummy!", Twilight exclaimed.
Celestia cooed at her daughters' costumes. Though Twilight had gone Nightmare Night trick-or-treating before, this was Sunset's first time.
Twilight wore a little black body stocking with cat ears on her head, whiskers on her face and little white paws sewn onto the costume. Sunset had gone with the classic Frankenpony's monster costume.
Celestia cooed and doted over her daughters as she snapped pictures with a camera. "Alright my little Shimmering Star, give me a cute meow!"
"Mew!"
Celestia practically melted at the cuteness as she snapped a picture. "Alright my bright Sunny Bunny, give me a fearsome moan!"
"Uh...moan?"
"You gotta do it like this, Lady Sunset. Mwraaaugh!" Shining Armor reared up on his hind legs and waved his forelegs about as he gave a beastly moan.
Knightly Armor cleared his throat and tapped the butt of his halberd on the ground.
"Oh, um sorry da--uh, sir. I was just trying to show Lady Sunset how to moan like Frankenpony's monster." A crimson blush spread on Shining's cheeks.
Celestia gave Knightly a nudge and cleared her throat. His son was young, barely eighteen summers old and was the youngest cadet so far to join the royal guard. He was certainly on the fast track to becoming a member of the elite family guard.
"Hrmm!", Knightly grumbled. It wasn't proper for a member of the guard, cadet or not, to behave in such a manner, but if the princess was willing to forgive his breach in protocol, then he'd let it slide...for now. Certainly when Celestia's daughters were safely back in the palace walls, he'd administer the proper punishment for a cadet, one hundred jumping jacks, one hundred push-ups and a five kilometer run.
"Okay, let's see if I got this right. *ahem* Bleeeeeuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrgh!" Sunset twisted up her face and stuck out her tongue as she did her best monster moan.
Celestia snapped a picture. "Oh my! What a ghastly monster you are!", she faux-quailed. She then handed her daughters each a plastic pail in the likeness of Jack o'Lanterns. "Now girls, I want you two to stay with private Shield and cadet Armor while you're out trick-or-treating. Only go up to homes that have their porch lanterns lit in neighborhoods that are well-lit. Do what your guards tell you, for they speak with my authority." She gave each of them a kiss then nudged them off into the night.
Celestia had vetted the neighborhoods that her daughters would be gathering candy in. They wouldn't be going to the stodgy neighborhoods that the nobles lived in, though superficially they'd be amenable to her daughters, she knew the elitist bigotry that dwelt in their hearts, and they would cast disparaging remarks disguised with honeyed words. No, her daughters would be going to personally selected working-class neighborhoods where the ponies had nothing to gain or lose by members of the royal family trick-or-treating, and they'd give out real candy, not this ghastly designer stuff those stuffed shirts called candy. There would also be a company of guards disguised as random Nightmare Night revelers walking the streets and two full flights of pegasi guards flying above them in night camouflage.
Once her daughters were out of sight, Celestia turned her attention to the moon, specifically to the dark portion in the shape of a unicorn's head. She knew that she wouldn't always be around to protect her daughters. In a little over a decade the seals that held her greatest monument to her own hubris would dissolve and her daughters would be alone in this world, so she constantly strived to make sure they developed a strong bond. To lean on one another for strength. She also had started to slowly teach them self-reliance. One day the darkness from her past would return and it would inevitably turn its attention onto them. But for now she was content with letting them be younglings. " Come back to me Luna and Chrissi. Forgive me for my past transgressions. There are things coming that your nieces will need you strength and wisdom to guide them through."
At the top of the Canterhorn stood a half-dragon silhouetted against the night sky looking down at Celestia in the palace courtyard. It had black scales with green highlights. It then turned its attention up to the moon for a moment. A second later its body dissolved in a swarm of locusts.
***
Twilight and Sunset had returned an hour ago from their night of trick-or-treating with their pails full of all sorts of candies and candied apples and caramel apples and other goodies. Celestia had plucked a few treats from their pails and gobbled them down, under the pretense of 'checking to make sure they were safe'.
Currently they were in Celestia's study huddled under a blanket, occasionally munching on bits of candy as a horror movie about a pony wearing a dirty green and red sweater, a dirty brown fedora and a hoof glove with four knife blades attached to it was stalking teenagers in their dreams and killing them.
"Ugh!", Raven exclaimed. "Why are you letting them watch A Nightmare on Mare Street, Celestia? That'll give them nightmares for a week, at least."
"Pssh! Maybe forty years ago when that movie was new. It's a lot better than those low budget ones made recently in the found footage style about ghosts where you can see the unicorn stage-hooves' auras moving the furniture around. Besides, it's Nightmare Night. All ponies like to get a little scared. Plus it allows me to participate in that oldest of Nightmare Night traditions, pranks!"
Sunset and Twilight shuddered under the as the protagonist was fleeing from the villain through a boiler room. Fillies in white dresses sang a spooky nursery rhyme in a droning tune as they skipped rope. Celestia held a paw over her snout as she slunk through the shadows of her study to keep from giggling. She stopped at the black board and waited for the right moment. Just as Pony Kreuger popped out from behind some steam pipes, brandishing his hoof-claws and lunged at Misty, Celestia used her magic to switch off the projector. The room fell into darkness.
"Wha haffen?", Sunset said around a mouthful of candy.
Celestia extended a claw to the blackboard and...
*skree*
Twilight and Sunset winced at the horrific screeching.
Celestia summoned up a fedora and placed it on her head. She struck a menacing pose with the talons on one paw extended and waited. She didn't have to wait long. Sunset and twilight both lit their horns, casting dim lavender and red light about the room. They saw a menacing wearing a fedora, looming with claws extended.
"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" The two sisters scrambled over one another as they fled the room. "Pony Kreuger! Pony Kreuger!", they shouted, scurrying down the hall, drawing the attention of the guards, who simply shook their heads a moments as they softly chuckled. The guards knew of their princess' propensity for pranks, especially on Nightmare Night. The sisters fled to their mother's room.
*skree*
The horrible screeching of claws caused them to to turn their heads in fright, seeing the same looming, fedora-wearing, claw-brandishing figure again. They shrieked in fright and went to flee out of the room.
Celestia teleported in front of her daughters and flicked on the lights. "Boo!" This caused her daughters to yelp in fright. She quickly snapped a picture of their faces and exclaimed, "Got ya!"
Upon realizing they had been duped, Twilight and Sunset suddenly felt very foolish.
"I...uh...I knew it was you the whole time.", Sunset lied, trying to cover for her previous fright.
"Nuh-uh! You were just as scared as me!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Not!" "Too!" "Not!" Too!"
Celestia pulled the developing photo from the camera. "I got you both good. You should both see your faces."
Sunset's cheeks flushed crimson with embarrassment and she stomped out of the room. "Whatever. I knew it was you the whole time.", she grumbled under her breath. "Darn near made me pee myself.", she sighed once she was out of earshot of everypony.
Ten years passed and Sunset and Twilight had grown into young adults.
Sunset's horn now had a pair of antler-like forks, her crimson and gold curly mane had thickened to the point where it wrapped her head much like a lion's mane and the tuft at the end of her tail had grown out until it covered the lower tenth of it, looking like a crimson and gold flame frozen in place. Her teeth had grown until they were much thicker, going from the needle-like fangs to sharp dagger-like fangs in the front and pony-like teeth in the rear, her upper and lower canine teeth had grown in length, indicating she was an omnivore. Her kirin ability to intimately learn the ins and and outs of a spell that had been used on her had grown greatly. She had gained mastery over elemental magics, able to control fire, ice, lightning and wind with great precision. She also gained a mastery over mind magic, to the point where she could communicate telepathically with others, read their thoughts and see their emotions as auras when she focused her mana.
Twilight's hood had gained a row of downward-facing spines that gave her simultaneously a fearsome and graceful appearance when she spread it. Her mane had a short row of four backwards-facing spines. The six-pointed stars adorned her hood and scales down her body. She had grown a double pair of retractable fangs in her mouth. She had also gained just below her eyes a pair of sensory pits, that along with the square pits on her upper lip, allowed her to "see" magic and heat. At the tip of her tail she had a segmented rattle that would make a buzzing rattling sound when anxious. scared, upset or angry. At the base of her tail and hood she had grown a pair of rudimentary hook-like protrusions that allowed her to better physically manipulate her environment so she would have to rely solely on her mouth or magic to move things. Her naga ability to temporarily mesmerize individuals when deploying her hood, staring into their eyes and waving her upper body back and forth rhythmically had matured over the last few years. Her diligence in studying magic had given her an almost savant understanding of the deeper aspects of spell-craft.
Their personalities though similar in many ways, were also very different. Both shared a deep love of knowledge and books. Both had minds sharper than surgeons' scalpels. Both had the ability to inspire the best in others. Sunset was brash and bold, often speaking her mind loudly, not hesitating to spit verbal barbs that stung worse than fire hornets, especially at haughty nobles who rubbed her the wrong way, much to their chagrin. Twilight was much more socially withdrawn, preferring to bury herself in the studies of ancient tomes, especially ones that contained history of pre-classical Equestria and esoteric spells. She was not above unleashing lectures at those whom earned her ire, often laced with veiled insults.
Both were adventurous and inquisitive.
Sunset was boisterous, taking much pleasure in fencing, hoofball, martial arts and other athletic events. She had taken to carousing with the enlisted ponies of the EUP, often going to bars and bawdy houses where cheap beer and rot-gut whiskey flowed like water, creating a ruckus and more often than not getting her self into trouble when fights broke out. Much to the chagrin of the noble she had also taken to attending "commoner entertainment" such as the new skateboard competitions and profession wrestling events where athletes in imitation of ancient gladiatorial spectacles would perform highly stylized mock fights for the cheers and boos of the fans, even receiving personally autographed photos of many of the superstars, such as Hulk Hoofin, Macho Mare, Dusty Roads, The Underzebra, Broken Heart and Stomp. She was also musically inclined, taking to the new-ish electric guitar, imitating nearly perfectly controversial bands such as Iron Mare, Ponytera, ZWA, Hoofrot, Slipclop and Maretallica.
Twilight was often attending lectures of the greatest minds. She would sit in lecture halls, listening intently to the newest discoveries in the mundane sciences and new philosophical ideas from great thinkers. She had taken great interest in astrophysics and the new science of rocketry. She had submitted to peer-reviewed scientific journals studies that had greatly advanced the ideas in the understanding of the mundane universe. She even had two astrophysical principles named after her, The Twilight Constant based on hr submitted observations that most thought were dust clouds or nebulae that turned out to be galaxies moving towards or away from the observer based on the red-shift or blue-shift of their light and the Twilight Limit when a collapsing star would become a black hole, something that was entire hypothetical until she and the famous paralyzed griffon astronomer, Professor Hawk, had jointly submitted their work proving they exited. She would also frequently attend poetry slams where clove cigarettes and middle-shelf wine was aplenty, clubs where experimental jazz was played, and debate halls, all things that Canterlottian nobles thought was below the station of a daughter of Celestia.
Both had also taken on their mother's habit of pulling pranks, much to their mother's delight.
***
Today was the day of Sunset and Twilight's coronation. A day when they would be given the titles of duchesses, titles that moved them up from minor nobles to major nobles. Titles that brought much privileges and responsibilities.
Celestia had taken it upon herself to get her daughters ready for their coronation ceremony. She might as well be herding cats, in fact herding cats might be easier. She found her daughters in the historical section of the library. They were currently pouring over a passage from a one thousand year old codex called 'Portents and Omens'. She knew that passage well, it was an old prophesy she had personally written down after the events of that dread day, that day when she was forced to banish one sister and drove a wedge between herself and her other sister. 'On the longest day of the thousandth year the moon will appear in the noon-sky, the sun shall turn black. The bonds will break and the nightmare that stole flesh will walk the land once again. The locusts will buzz. The sun shall fall. From flight ancient spirits will awaken. They will lay bare the sins of the elder. When the eight gather then shall the split that fractured the whole will be rejoined. They will heal the ancient wounds and redeem the wronged. The eight shall bring the three together, and in flame and colorful light will the Nightmare of the Moon will be banished.'
Twilight looked up from the ancient codex and to Celestia. "Mom! I found this old codex. The writing looks...familiar. I've come across in this book several mentions of a...pony?...I'm not really sure as many of the pages were damaged...but the same names pops up several times. You, Luna, Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, eight souls, eight gems...but only seven are named, honesty, loyalty, generosity, kindness, laughter, love, courage. But it mentions that one soul was sundered and one gem was split. It's all in odd cryptic prose. Then this prophesy...or is it a portent?...doesn't really matter. But it also mentions a nightmare that stole flesh. But this line is really odd, Nightmare and Moon are used in a proper context."
"Yeah.", Sunset said in a concerned tone. "Normally I'm not big on old prophesies, but when Twilight showed me this book, it struck me as odd. Almost as if it called to me. Did you used to have two sisters? Luna and Chrysalis? Were they hald-dragon like you or were they ponies? What happened to them?"
Could it be? The sundered soul was thrust into my paws and I never noticed? Could the souls of our champions come back? Celestia walked over to her daughters and closed the ancient codex. "For now let's put aside this dusty old tome. Today is a day of celebration. Today is the Summer Sun Celebration and your dual coronations. Once the events here are done, there is a town in the valley below I want you to visit. I have an old manor there I haven't gone to for some time."
Celestia pointed to a map on the wall. "Ponyville."
"Ponyville?", Sunset asked.
Twilight ducked her head. "H-have we done something to make you mad? Are you sending us away?"
"Quite the contrary my little Shimmering Star and my brilliant Sunny Bunny. I cannot be more proud of you both than I am now. My daughters whom I love more than my own life. The ones I would crawl through broken glass and barbed wire for. Ponyville is a quiet little farming town, mostly earth ponies. But it is home to many beings similar to yourselves. I think it will do you both some good to get out of Canterlot for a little while. Worry not, for I will join you both there when things here are done. I will tell you all the things I know of where you both came from. Now come along, the seamstresses need to get you both in your coronation gowns."
***
Celestia sat on her throne as the elaborate dual coronation ceremony comensed. Dread filled her heart, but the face of her alicorn form was the practiced calm and serene mask of court. As her daughters approached the dais, she cast a wary glance out the window. The sun was moving towards the noon precipice. The moon, black as pitch, was drifting across the sky towards the sun.
Celestia took a breath, then she heard it. The droning of locust wings. "Crissi, welcome back. Luna will be joining us soon.", she whispered.
As noon neared, trumpeters raised their horns and sounded the coronation tune. Sunset and Twilight reached the base of the dais. the former knelt and the latter lowered her upper body. Majordomo Raven Inkwell raised a twin pair of silver circlets in her magic. Celestia walked down the steps of the dais, raised a golden shoe and tapped her daughters on the heads. "Behold! Ladies Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle are no more! Long live duchesses Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle! May they reign with integrity and honor!"
Raven lowered the circlets onto the newly coronated duchesses head. She raised a hoof and shouted in a loud voice, "Hip-hip!"
"Hurrah!", the gathered assembly shouted back.
"Hip-hip!" "Hurrah!" "Hip-hip!" "Hurrah!"
Celestia took a deep breath, swallowed deeply and spread her wings in a regal display. The time was nigh! She strode out to the balcony. The gathered thong of ponies cheered. Deep purple banners and pennants bearing a gold sun standard fluttered in the breeze. A golden, stylized sun was raised on a pole above the highest spire of the palace.
A cloud of locusts flew in on loud thrumming wings. They swarmed to the balcony.
"Welcome home, Chrysalis.", Celestia said calmly. "I hope your travels went well and you come in friendship."
The sky went dark and ponies looked up, then shouted in alarm. An inky black cloud slowly descended from the sky. A pitch black lightning bolt fired from the cloud and struck the stylized sun atop the highest spire, sending it tumbling down. Ponies screamed in fright and stampeded away in all directions.
Celestia shed her gold adornments and assumed her half-dragon form. "Welcome home, Luna. I will not fight you for my sake."